Inn at Bay Ledge

Ten adults-only rooms perched on an 80-foot cliff above Frenchman Bay, four miles north of downtown Bar Harbor. The Inn at Bay Ledge sits on a piece of Mount Desert Island that's all about the view: an ocean cliff with a private set of stairs down to a small pebble beach, and a deck with a heated pool and hot tub looking straight east. The inn itself is restrained — clapboard, simple, deferential to the cliff.

It is the rare Bar Harbor property that's neither a downtown B&B nor a Ocean Drive megaresort. Just ten rooms, a cliff, and the bay.

The setting

The inn is on Sand Point Road, a quiet residential stretch on the north shore of MDI, four miles north of downtown Bar Harbor. The view is east across Frenchman Bay to the Porcupine Islands and Schoodic Peninsula beyond. Acadia National Park's Hulls Cove Visitor Center is five minutes north; the Park Loop Road entrance is ten. The drive into Bar Harbor town for dinner is twelve minutes.

Frenchman Bay is whale-watching, lobster-boat working water, and at sunrise one of the best light shows on the East Coast.

The building

A clapboard New England summer-cottage tradition — white-painted siding, deep porches, simple gables. Public rooms include a small parlor with a fireplace, a breakfast room, and the deck (the actual social space) with views over the bay. Materials are clapboard, painted wood, and the occasional bit of brass. The interior is restrained — wicker, navy, white-on-white linens — because the windows do all the work.

The rooms

Ten rooms across the main inn and a separate cottage. Most face the bay; corner rooms have the best angles. Beds are kings or queens, dressed simply; bathrooms are tile, refreshed in the last decade. From-rates open around $445 in season including a full breakfast. Some rooms have private decks; the cottage has its own porch and hot tub.

Food & drink

There's no restaurant. A full hot breakfast is served daily in the breakfast room or on the porch. For dinner you drive twelve minutes into Bar Harbor — Havana, Galyn's, or Side Street Cafe are the long-running picks; Jack Russell's at the Bar Harbor Inn is the lobster reservation. Reading Room and McKay's are the more recent picks.

On the property

A heated outdoor pool overlooking the bay, a hot tub on the same deck, the cliff stairs down to a pebble beach (best at low tide), and the lawn. There's no spa or gym.

• Heated outdoor pool, hot tub
• Private cliff stairs to Frenchman Bay beach
• Adults-only
• Full breakfast included
• Seasonal — generally May through October

Who it's for

• Couples doing Acadia who want a quiet base off the park-loop traffic
• Travelers who'd rather an ocean cliff than a downtown stroll
• Anyone whose ideal evening is a sunset over Frenchman Bay with a glass of wine
• Quiet-property partisans

Who it's not for

• Families — adults-only
• Travelers who want to walk to dinner — Bar Harbor downtown is a 12-minute drive
• Pet owners (no pets allowed)

Nearby

Acadia National Park's Hulls Cove Visitor Center is five minutes; the Park Loop Road takes you past Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and up Cadillac Mountain. Jordan Pond House is twenty minutes for the popovers. Bar Harbor town has Havana, Side Street Cafe, McKay's, and the late-night ice cream at Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream. The Schoodic Peninsula — quieter side of Acadia — is an hour by car or you can take the ferry from Bar Harbor.